Inheritance II
by mentalchick666
Summary: How I thought I would have liked Inheritance to finish, and it follows some events in the book in some places. Eragon is in love with someone he doesn't think he can ever be with and is on a journey to save his brother and stop the evil tyrant king. Murtagh is trying to free himself of his fealty and become the free dragon rider he has always wanted to be.
1. doubt

Doubt

Eragon could see the vast landscape of the plains from the mount of Helgrind. If it wasn't for the dread of the place then the sight would have been magnificent. No matter what Murtagh had done in the past it hadn't been his fault, he had being forced to do all of those dreadful things and Eragon knew it was up to him to save his brother from this fate.

'If only there was a way I could break Galbatorix's hold over him' thought Eragon. He sighed and gazed back out.

Arya silently glided over and placed her hand on his shoulder, they held each other's gaze for several moments before Arya pulled away.

'Eragon' She started, but he cut her off.

'Arya, I know you and me could never be, I won't let my feelings for you get in the way of what I have to do!' She raised her lip into a curved smile.

'I know' She said softly. 'You look troubled Eragon, are you worried about Murtagh? I know you want to help him but I don't see a way that we can. We must defeat Galbatorix, that is the only certain way that we can free your brother.'

'I know.' sighed Eragon, turning back to look out over the plains. What was he going to do? As the last free dragon rider everyone looked to him to be a saviour and defeat the King. But how could he defeat the King when he couldn't even save his own brother! And he was in love with someone he knew he could never be with. She was sat so close to him but she would never be his, how his heart broke at the thought of that.

They sat there for a long while in silence before Arya bid her farewells and left Eragon in his thoughts.

Meanwhile in the centre of the city Urú'baen Galbatorix's castle stood tall and magnificent, standing proud amongst it's city. Here an army of grand scale was preparing for war on the Varden. The King had enjoyed several months of beating Murtagh for betraying him in such manner and the twins took every opportunity to cause pain for making a mockery out of them in Fathern Dur.

In this time, the 2nd of the 3 eggs had hatched; Thorn, a strong red male dragon for Murtagh. They had both been forced to swear fealty to the King and were completely under his command.

Murtagh felt so alone, he was the King's puppet and there was nothing he could do about it. 'At least I know you are a true and loyal friend Thorn' The great dragon curled up and lay it's tail around Murtagh.

'You can always count on me little one, you have a good heart and are head strong. I know you to be a wise choice and I stand by that choice, one day we will be free of this curse' Thorn's voice was strong and full of confidence, but Murtagh could not bring himself to believe it to be true.


	2. judgement day

Judgement day

The next day, the whole city shook with the marching footsteps of the empire's army. Women were weeping as their men left for war as they were sure they probably wouldn't ever see them again. Murtagh watched on, and to his horror realised Galbatorix was amongst the men.

'They cannot lose, anyone who stands in their way shall be defeated. He is too powerful Thorn.' Murtagh said in dismay.

'Unless...' tinkered Thorn.

'Unless What?'

'Shruikan is un-protected. With the King being so far away all of his wards will diminish and leave Shruikan vulnerable. I bet with our power and the eldunari that we have, you and I could defeat his dragon.'

'Are you serious?' Murtagh looked at Thorn's face bearing his brilliantly white fangs. 'You are serious! You'll get us killed!'

'At least we'll die in war and be free of this curse.'

'But you are one of the last few of a dying race and you expect me to risk your life.'

'But were going to be killing a dragon, why not me too?'

'Because you don't deserve to die, you are a good dragon, that dragon isn't.'

'Exactly, Shruikan deserves to die!'

'I need to think about this' Murtagh scowled.

'Well don't take too long, I'm going to hunt!'. With that Thorn flew off.


	3. Dismay

Dismay

Eragon was knelt in the brush, he could feel the life force of everything around him. He revelled in being at one with all, but also hated it as when a being died it felt like a part of him was. But he could sit for hours, lost in his place and he was content.

Suddenly Saphira's consciousness touched his, 'What's wrong Saphira?' queried Eragon.

'I can see the soldier's approaching, get back here quickly, and don't be seen little one.' He kept low and made his way back to the camp.

Sure as Saphira has said were the soldiers, he was dismayed with the sheer vastness of their numbers. But he would never give up hope, not as long as people still counted on him to be their saviour. And he knew Saphira certainly would never give in. He headed straight to the main tent in the centre of the camp. There he found Nasuada with Arya, Elva, Nar Garzhvog and lead Du Vranga Gata Trianna. They all looked up at Eragon as he entered the tent.

'The soldiers have arrived quicker than we thought.' Eragon informed everyone. 'And there numbers are vaster than we thought, they will out number us 3-1 at least.'

Nasuada arose and started pacing around the tent, muttering under her breath. Just then a soldier entered the tent.

'Mi Lady, a lone rider approaches, what shall we do?'

'Allow him to enter but remain cautious, I want to hear what he has to say.'

'Yes Mi Lady' with that the soldier left the tent to inform the soldiers at the gate the allow the rider to enter.

Turning to Eragon, Nasuada addressed him,

'Eragon, I need you to enter his mind, get a read on his thoughts to see if he is a threat that means to cause us harm.'

Eragon nodded his head and reached out his mind towards the rider. He was surprised when there wasn't a wall up and he could enter with ease. After a few minutes he withdrew, satisfied that the rider wasn't a threat.

'All is fine, he is no threat to us.' He relayed to everyone in the tent.

They all waited patiently for the rider to reach them. Then the tent opened and a boy, no older than 16 entered. He whimpered as he foresaw the 8 foot tall urgal before him.

Only for Saphira to hear Eragon touched her mind, 'he reminds me of me at that age, in something I did not fully understand, how far we have come since then Saphira, I...'

He was cut off by Nasuada addressing the boy, 'What is your business here boy?'

'I..I..I.. come with a message.' Stammered the boy.

'Go on' ushered Nasuada. The boy cleared his throat, regaining his compsure he continued.

'On behalf of King Galbatorix I have come to offer a peace treaty. If I may?' Nasuada nodded and he drew a roll of parchment. 'This agreement says that you are to surrender peacefully and no harm shall come to any of your people...' he paused.

'And what? That can't be all!' interrupted Nasuada.

'If you don't mind I hadn't finished. You also need to hand over Eragon and Saphira.'

'I knew it! I am afraid to say that war shall commence. Eragon shall not be handing himself over.'

'Very well, you have brought this on yourself' And with that he left.

There were murmurs in the tent then Nasuada addresses everyone,

'We have not come this far to simply hand Eragon and Saphira over now. We always knew this fight would end in battle and that battle is now. Now please can everyone go and inform all of our troops, spell casters and Urgals that we are at war!'


	4. Misery

Misery

Nasuada turned to Arya.

'Let's hope your people can get here in time, I fear we shall be over run far too easily without the skill of your warriors to aid us in this battle.'

'Do not underestimate the speed of elves Nasuada, they will be here.'

'I hope so, for all our sakes.' And with that she left, a trail of dwarves and urgals at her heels.

Arya reached out in her mind to Eragon,

'Eragon, meet me in you tent in 5 minutes.' He looked over at her to see her already looking straight at him with those emerald green eyes in which he got lost all too often. He could just stare into them all day. He was brought back to reality with a searing pain, Saphira had let out a small jet of flames that had caught Eragon's rear.

'Ow Saphira what was that for?'

'You need to get your head out of the clouds little one, this is no time to be fantasising!'

Eragon blushed, he had forgotten that Saphira could see and feel everything he could.

'We had better head to our tent we don't want to keep Arya waiting.' So with that they left the tent and set off for theirs.

'Why have you brought us here Arya? We have a lot of preparation to do in light of the impending battle.'

'This won't take long I promise, I just needed privacy to tell you that Oromis will be joining us in the battle.'

'What! No, he can't. He's not strong enough!'

'Eragon, you don't understand, this is going to be the biggest battle ever known, much bigger than that one of the elves and the dragon's. We need all the help we can get.'

'But...'

'No but's Eragon, I'm not happy with this myself he is one of our elders and we wouldn't be able to stand the pain if he were to fall in battle. This is his choice and his is mind has already being made and he is nearly here.'

'If that is so then I must do this as I may never get another chance to.' And with that Eragon leaned forward and kissed Arya. She jumped back in surprise of his forwardness and lack of respect.

'Eragon! How dare you! You promised me that you would not pursue this.'

'I know, but I just wanted to let you know how much I care for you Arya before we head into this battle, in case I don't get the chance to after.'

'Eragon, I know how you feel, please stop this! I...' she trailed off.

'Arya?' he questioned, his heart as racing he knew what he had done could have cost him their friendship but he had to do it, she had to know how he felt and he wouldn't have been able to live with himself if he had never let her know.

'The elves have arrived from the South.'

Just then a soldier burst into the tent, 'The war has started, everyone to their stations!' Saphira flared her nostrils.


	5. Pain

Pain

Thorn had returned from his hunt earlier that evening where Murtagh had agreed to his plan. They had spent the evening planning their attack. When they were certain they had checked everything they headed to the hall.

'Thorn, you have to be ready for my signal, the timing has to be correct or..'

'I know!' Thorn grumbled. He had sat patiently all evening waiting whilst Murtagh had being going over the plan again and again for hours. He just wanted to get in there and kill Shruikan now.

'Ok then go and get in position.' With that Thorn took flight and silently got into position whilst Murtagh made his way along the maze of corridors stopping every now and again to take care of the soldiers.

Finally he reached the great doors to the hall, between him and the doors stood 6 guards, 2 to each side of the door and a further 2 walking up and down patrolling the corridor. 'Deyja' he muttered and all the guards fell down dead in an instant. He then cast his mind towards thorn, 'Now! Jierda.'

The great doors smashed inwards just as the ceiling imploded and Thorn came crashing through, debris falling on the great dragon. Enraged Shruikan swung his great tail hitting the debris aside and sending Thorn crashing into the far wall. Shruikan threw his head back and let out an almighty roar before he lunged at Thorn who was dragging himself out of the rubble. The two dragon's collided, Shruikan was on top of the smaller dragon pinning him to the ground, showing his great white fangs the dragon started to sink his teeth into Thorn's neck.

'No!' Murtagh yelled as he felt his dragon's pain. 'Stenr Reisa' He sent a heap of rubble straight at Shruikan. The dragon flew up into the air to avoid being hit, he then opened up his maw and sent a torrent of molten fire at Murtagh. 'Skolir nosu fra Brisingr!' the torrent of flames were diverted around Murtagh. As the flames cleared Murtagh's sight was impaired, he didn't see the great dragon flying straight at him, before he had chance to react Shruikan struck Murtagh square in the chest, throwing him back several feet and through the wall behind him.

Thorn became enraged and sunk his big fangs into Shruikan's tail. The great black dragon roared, flipped round knocking Thorn aside and encasing him in a great plume of molten fire.

As Murtagh lay there the last thing he felt was the pain of his dragon and he thought to himself, 'we may not make it through this'.


	6. Battle of Alagesia

Battle of Alagesia 

Hundreds of soldiers had already fallen in the battle but for every one down there were four more to take their place. Eragon had managed to find and take out two magicians which had led to a downfall of all the men they had being protecting, but there was little joy in it by the vast amount more that were ready to take their place. He looked around to see Nasuada falling to a group of soldiers 'Stenr Reisa' he flung the rocks at them, they died instantly. Nasuada looked over and nodded her head in approving thanks. Saphira was in her element ripping and tearing the soldiers to shreds, she looked so mighty and fierce in her armour and when the sunlight caught her scales they gleamed like sapphires.

The battle raged on for hours. The Varden, the people of Carvahall and Eragon were all getting tired, there seemed to be no hope, and there was no sign of the enemy tiring or their ranks depleting. Then Arya's conscience touched theirs 'The Elves are here.' The men regrouped and lined up with the elves and together they charged, reinvigorated but the appearance of the elves.

With their help they managed to push back the soldiers and finally gain some ground on them. Eragon thought that they may actually have a chance.

And then... the soldiers backed off and regrouped and bowed respectively. Their worst fears had come true. Before them stood Galbotrix. With a flick of the wrist a handful of the Varden fell. He was about to raise his other hand when Nasuada shouted,

'Stop!'

A smirk appeared on Galbatorix's face. 'Ah, the leader. It is you who I have to thank for this glorious battle! If Eragon and his dragon comes with us then I can see no more reason to fight, but, if he should decline then we shall slaughter every single one of you. Rider and dragon also. What say you!'

'We will never let you have control over Eragon and Saphira. He is a free rider, unlike that poor boy Murtagh.' Nasuada was shouting now, a tear rolling down her face.

'Ha, it has been that boys fate since the day he was born and in time he will come to realise it's a good thing!' Galbatorix snorted.

'Then where is he now? Is he here to fight this battle, or has he left you to yourself?'

'He is on another mission and then he shall be joining us here, he...argh' he fell to one knee holding his side.

'Curses! Durza get back to the castle now, Shruikan is being attacked!' Durza then disappeared in a vortex of magic.


End file.
